Democracy has Bad Taste

The Reith Lectures

BBC

Society & Culture, Science, Government, Technology

4.2 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2013

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the first of four lectures, recorded in front of an audience at Tate Modern in London in 2013, the artist Grayson Perry reflects on the idea of quality and examines who and what defines what we see and value as art. He argues that there is no empirical way to judge quality in art. Instead the validation of quality rests in the hands of a tightknit group of people at the heart of the art world including curators, dealers, collectors and critics who decide in the end what ends up in galleries and museums. Often the last to have a say are the public. Perry examines the words and language that have developed around art critique, including what he sees as the growing tendency to over-intellectualise the response to art. He analyses the art market and quotes – with some irony – an insider who says that certain colours sell better than others. He queries whether familiarity makes us like certain artworks more, and encourages the public to learn to appreciate different forms of art through exploration and open-mindedness. Perry was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003, and is known for his ceramic works, printmaking, drawing, sculpture and tapestry as well as for his cross-dressing and alter-ego, Claire. The lecture series is presented and chaired by Sue Lawley. Producer: Jim Frank

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy.
0:05.4	My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds.
0:10.7	The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that.
0:17.4	With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to helping
0:22.7	you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all put together
0:28.7	by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life,
0:34.9	check out BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to the 2013 BBC Reith Lectures Download.
0:41.3	This year I, Grace and Perry, present a series of four lectures entitled Playing to the Gallery.
0:46.3	In these lectures I'll be looking at the role and place of art in the global landscape of the 21st century,
0:52.3	talking about topics such as the role of art in society,
0:56.0	the limits of contemporary art,
0:57.8	and the idea of how we judge quality.
1:00.9	Hello and welcome to Tate Modern in London
1:03.5	for the first of this year's BBC Reith Lectures.
1:07.0	They're called Playing to the Gallery.
1:09.5	An appropriately ironic title for a lecturer who says of his work,
1:13.6	it sneaks up on people and seduces them, and I like that. After studying fine art at Portsmouth Polytechnic,
1:21.1	he started taking pottery lessons and was soon exhibiting his work. That was back in 1983. 20 years later, he won the Turner Prize,
1:30.3	and the potter who up till then had been talked of as an artist's artist became an important
1:35.6	force in the world of art. His highly decorated vases and plates are classically beautiful,
1:42.3	but they carry a subversive message, spiky, he calls it.
1:46.6	He's made his name in ceramics, but he works in other media too. His series of tapestries
	...

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